Pinata breaking celebrations are quite popular in Mexico and in the Mexican communities of the southwestern United States. Pinatas are traditionally a pot or container ornamented with colorful paper and filled with candy, nuts, confetti and/or token gifts such as small toys and the like. The pinata is suspended above a party area and at the appropriate time, and with celebration, it is broken so that the treats are scattered among the guests who in turn can keep whatever they collect. The usual method of breaking the pinata is by beating it with a club or cane and this is either done by a blindfolded child who is the subject of the celebration or by several chidren in succession, each given a certain number of turns in which to break the pinata. Unfortunately, as a result of the enthusiasm of the guests in gathering close to the pinata so as to obtain a larger number of candies or gifts, it occasionally happens that a child is hit by the club or cane. Additionally, the traditional pinata is made of clay pottery and large falling fragments can cause injury to a young child. Modern pinatas are often made of papier mache, avoiding the dangers of cracked clay fragments, but such pinatas are generally more difficult to break requiring greater swings with the resultant danger from that aspect to the children.
The present invention provides a pinata which avoids the foregoing dangers. The pinata includes a bottom wall having an extended surface and side and top walls which cooperate with the bottom wall to define a substantially enclosed chamber whereby a plurality of small items such as candy, toys and the like may be carried in the chamber on the bottom wall. At least one line of weakness is formed through the extended surface of the bottom wall to enable at least a substantial portion of the bottom wall to break-away upon application thereto of a moderate force, a force which in the absence of the line of weakness would be insufficient to cause the bottom wall to break-away. Means are provided for suspending the pinata which, in one embodiment, comprises a suspension line through openings therefor in the top and bottom walls of the pinata and a retention member, larger than the bottom wall opening, secured to the suspension line exteriorly of the bottom wall. The suspension line and retention member hold the bottom wall in assembled relation with, but free of direct attachment to, said side and top walls, i.e., permitting the bottom wall to fall away when it breaks away. Upon successive pulls or jerks on the line, the candy and other treats in the pinata bounce down against the bottom wall until the bottom wall breaks along the line of weakness and spills the treats. In another embodiment, a pull line is connected to, and dependant from, the bottom wall whereby pulling of the line enables the bottom wall to directly break-away. With this embodiment, a plurality of decoy lines of like construction can be provided extending a like distance from the bottom wall whereby to disguise the identity of the pull line.
With respect to the first embodiment, the guest can be blindfolded and seek to find the suspension line to jerk the same and break-away the bottom wall. In the second embodiment, the guests can try to guess which of the many lines are decoy lines and which is the true pull line. In either case, a safe yet enjoyable and stimulating pinata is provided. It will also be appreciated that the only component which is broken from the pinata is the bottom wall. Therefore, one can utilize the pinata on many occasions with replacement required only for the bottom wall.